Originally
posted by
BigRedDog:
Originally posted by ponderer:
not to mention that in most states everybody has to have auto insurance. Does that mean that our "basic freedoms" are being violated?
itd be great if u knew the difference....auto insurance is only required of people that drive/own vehicles...there isnt a law stating that u have to have a car, if u decided not to have one u wouldnt have to have the insurance....
now making me buy insurance bc im alive and a citizen of the US? thats what goes against our freedoms...but thanks keep trying
OK, let me take an alternate tact. The government provides services or funding for services that private industry is unable to provide profitably while charging enough to make use of that service feasible. This includes national defense, public safety, education, roads, and now, barring a massive restructuring of the health care and pharmaceutical industries, health care delivery.
The main flaw of the governmental health plan is that it is a compromise solution - the insurance and pharmaceutical industries had too much power in congress (and this was before the Roberts Court decided to allow corporate entities to use money to legally influence politicians (in New Jersey we call it pay to play), and as a result they were able to resist the kind of change required to make a meaningful difference to the industry. Obama got his wish to provide health insurance to everyone (vital to the survival of hospitals, and helping to reduce government expenditure by eliminating charity care), but failed to make the kind of change needed. Mandatory health insurance will reduce the need for charity care, which will take some of the pressure off, but it isn't enough.
Ideally, health insurance providers increase the buying power of the individual consumer, allowing them to get health care at a reasonable price. Realistically, health insurance providers mainly represent a mark-up in the cost of health care, and as health care costs rise and margins disappear, the industry can no longer afford the middle man. Since no business is going to voluntarily give up its business for the public good, the government has to step in, either by regulation, or in an extreme case (as I, someone who provides professional services to the health care sector, believe we are only a few years away from), elimination.
The only effective solution to this is for the government to provide health care as a service, or to take over private industry's role as the middle man in providing purchase power to consumers. The mismanagement of the VA system tells us that we want the latter rather than former, but take my word for it - as governments (state and federal) cut down on their medicare reimbursements to cut their deficits, and private entities continue to separate the profitable procedures from the money losing hospitals, the government will eventually be forced to take over health care delivery. As the son of a Vietnam Vet, I can tell you that it won't be pretty.
